


Ghost in the Machine

by kaitatatertot



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Borderlands 3 Spoilers, Coping, DLC, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romance, Second Chances, Spoilers, Trauma, tannis goes too far
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:07:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26408464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaitatatertot/pseuds/kaitatatertot
Summary: After learning Tannis can send people into brains. Ava has a heartfelt request to try and upload whatever memories and remnants of Maya she has to create a better way for her to learn how to harness and unlock her Siren potential. Unfortunately, Tannis takes it too far.(Takes place after the 4th DLC in Borderlands 3, Spoiler Heavy.)
Relationships: Krieg/Maya (Borderlands), psyren - Relationship
Comments: 5
Kudos: 20





	Ghost in the Machine

**Author's Note:**

> SO. Who played psycho krieg and the fantastic fustercluck?  
> And who cried like a baby at it?
> 
> Anyway uh, have this prologue. 
> 
> Lemme know if you wanna see more?

“Well, I definitely think I got a decent chunk of data to understand what  _ really  _ goes on inside the mind of a psycho.” Tannis pulls the headset off of Krieg and looks over at the Vault Hunters, “You may go do...whatever it is you do.” 

“Is he going to be okay?” Moze asks, leaning a little to see if the Psycho was actually awake.

As if to answer the question, Krieg groans and cracks his neck. His eye opens, a bit red with tears and he sat up in the chair.

“My mind twists like the guts…” 

“He’s fine. Probably needs to rest.” Fl4k says, “Let’s let him be.”

The others murmur in agreement before exiting the infirmary. Tannis gives one final nod to Krieg before heading over to her main computer leaving the man alone.

“Hnng...Twisting…”

“ _ You said it buddy. Let’s go. _ ” Sane Krieg agrees as his lumbering body finally gets up and stumbles out of the med bay. 

He never really liked the Sanctuary III, it was too small, cramped, unfamiliar faces everywhere. Krieg was aware they were allies, but they were not  _ his _ allies, they were just strangers taking up space. He really wanted to go home, to the shack he built with some help from the others years ago, but right now both sides agreed that getting sucked through digi-space might not be the best after having his brain picked through. So he decided on the next best thing. A crawl space. One just big enough for him not to get stuck. The drone of the ship’s engines was like a lullaby as the heat off the pipes soothed him to sleep. 

“Hey big guy, back so soon?” Maya looks up from her book with a smile. 

Krieg looks at the scene in front of him and he feels like a man who has it all. A house, a cool gold statue, guns, a giant cake, and Maya sitting at the picnic table. He sits next to her and finally relaxes. 

“The detectives are done with this soggy slab.” He replies.

“That’s good. How you feelin’?” She turns the page.

“A flurry of razors dance like angels.” 

“I bet. Well you know you’re welcome to stay here as long as you like. Okay?”

But Maya never receives an answer, instead she is met by soft snoring where Kreig has rested his head on the table.

* * *

“Heyyyyy, Amara!” Ava calls to the other Siren, “You guys were with Tannis for a while, everything okay?” 

“Yeah, she wanted us to run an experiment for her.” Amara explains shortly.

“Oooh? What did she have you all stuff skags with eridium? Try to talk backwards? Teach skags to talk backwards?”

“Errr, no. We were in someone’s brain.” Amara kept it vague, she wasn’t too sure how much the teen actually knew about Maya’s life and possible relationships.

“WHAT?! IN A BRAIN?! Whose? Moxxi? Tim? Oh oh! Ellieee?” Ava bounces on her toes.

“No no, tell me, did Maya ever tell you about her friends?”

The young Siren stops at the name of her late mentor, “Ye-yeah, oh! Did you get to pick Zer0’s brain?” 

It was evident that Ava was going to keep guessing, so Amara figured she might as well let the cat out of the bag. 

“Did Maya ever talk about someone named Krieg?” 

“Uh, only  _ all the time _ ! Whenever she would tell me about her days as a Vault Hunter she would  _ always _ bring him up. I’m like, 99% sure they were bangin’ by how much she talked about him.”

There’s a beat of silence.

“WAIT YOU WENT IN  _ KRIEG’S _ BRAIN?! Tell. Me. EVERYTHING.” 

And that's how Amara spent the next three hours recalling her and her friend’s expedition into the Psychoscape. Detailing everything she could remember from the bullet riding psychos, watching Zane scratch Krieg’s back and get weirded out when Krieg got a little  _ too _ into it, fighting “evil” versions of Lilith and the B Team, fighting alongside Maya again against a train, fighting a doctor, fighting a giant psycho, lots of fighting. But she also retold about how Krieg had almost perfectly preserved Maya in his thoughts, creating a place for her to live and him to visit. 

“I really, honestly think he loved her.” Amara’s voice softens and she lowers her eyes. 

“I mean, she is--was--like the greatest Siren ever.” Ava had also quieted, there were the starts of tears in her eyes. She would never forget how Maya died because she was so damn impulsive. In the midst of Ava’s thoughts, the spark of an idea ignites and she needs to fan the flames.

“I think I’m going to uh...meditate or something…” Ava gets up, takes a few steps back, then dashes to her room. 

“HERMES!” Ava crashes into her room, startling the small creature awake, “I have an IDEA! It’s an idea in the works, BUT! It might help me figure out how to train my powers better!!” 

Hermes chitters and looks up at Ava curiously, “Ok, so, Amara told me about how Krieg has memories of Maya, and everyone was in his head. What if, WHAT IF, they went into MY head, and were able to copy MY memories of her and her lessons so I could better follow them?”

Hermes chitters again.

“EXACTLY!! But first I’m going to,” She plops on the circle rug and crosses her legs, “meditate!” 

Ava pulls out her ECHO and turns on her “meditation playlist.” 

Heavy metal blasts through the speakers.


End file.
